Improvement in water-wheels



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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL A. FLUMNIERFELT, OF BRIDGEVILLE, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WHEELS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known th at I, DANIEL A. FLUMMEREELT, of Bridgeville, in thecounty of Varren and State of New Jersey, have invented a new andImproved Water-Vheel, and I do hereby declare that the following' is afull, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable othersskilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being' had to theaccompanying drawing forming part of this specification, in which-Figure 1 represents a vertical central section of my improvedwater-wheel, the line c c, Fig. 2, indicating' the plane ot' section.Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same on the line k k, Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention relates to several improvements in the parts used inconnection with a turbine water wheel, and in the arrangement of thewheel itself, and has for its object to provide means for more fullyutilizing the force of the water than could be done by the applianceshitherto in use. rIhe invention consists chiefly in a new arrangementofthe central discharge-chainber, which is provided with convexdischargeplates, whereby the water is rapidly conducted away so that itcannot clog the wheel. The invention also consists in a new arrangementof certain other parts, as hereinafter described.

A in the drawing represents the water-wheel. It is mounted upon a shaft,B, which rests in a step, af, and is further journaled in a frame, C.The wheel A is surrounded by the chute-ring D, around which the movablecylinder E, constituting the gate, is placed. F is thedischarge-chainber, placed stationary within the wheel. The gate E is acylinder, of suitable thickness of material, and tits close to thecircumference of the chute-cylinder D. It is perforated at proper i11-tervals, the number of openings being the same as in the chute-cylinderand of equal height, as shown in Fig. l; but horizontally the openingsof the cylinder E are but half the length of those in thechute-cylinder, as shown in Fig. 2, having plates b b project from thegate-cylinder over its openings at such an angle as to guide the waterto greatest advantage against the buckets d d. of the water wheel. Theseplates b take the place of the ordinary chutes, as far as the guidanceof the water is concerned, and permit the use of the thin cylinder D inplace of the cumbersome chutes heretofore required. One-half of eachopening in the chute-ring is closed by an inward projection, c, of thegate, shown in Fig. 2. As the gate is turned to one side or the other bya pinion, j', or equivalent means, the projection e enlarges ordiminishes the size or' opening in the chute for the admission of water.The buckets d of the water-wheel are concaveconveX, the Water strikingthe concave portions g, and being detained by the inner projectingconvex portions h, so that it will spend its entire force beforeescaping to the center. The reverse of each bucket is quite plain andsmooth, so as not to offer resistance to the operating liquid. Vithinthe wheel is set up a stationary cylinder, F, which constitutes thedischarge-chamber. Its circumference has as many openings as the'chute,whose number is considerably less than that of the buckets, one-fourthin the drawing. The discharge-openings of the cylinder F are continuedto form discharge-channels i i by the eXtra thickness given to thecylinder, the sides ofthe same being ilaring to make the channels largertoward the shaft B. The bottom ot' each channel i is curved, as shown inFig. 1, so as to guide the water down, which will cause it to bedischarged more rapidly and not to clog the wheel.

In order to prevent the entire weight of water to rest on the bottom ofthe wheel and dischargechannels, I have provided a horizontal partition,Z, within said wheel, and corresponding partitions m in the channels i.The latter are bent parallel to the bottom of said channels to guide thewater downward in a similar manner.

It is evident that the invention might be applied to wheels turning tothe right or left.

H. ving thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. The discharge-cylinder F, set up within theturbine wheel, and provided with the channels i and curved bottom,substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.

2. The curved partitions on, arranged within the channels of thedischarge-cylinder and oombined with the horizontal partition l of thewheel, as specied.

3. The combination ofthe gate-cylinder E with the chute-cylinder D,wheel A, and dischargecylinder F, all parts being arranged to operatesubstantially as herein shown and described.

DANIEL A. FLUMMERFELT.

Witnesses:

GEORGE W. MABEE, T. B. MosHER.

